KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudanese voted Sunday in the impoverished country’s first multiparty elections in a quarter century, which will determine whether President Omar al-Bashir wins another term despite his indictment on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

The vote is supposed to bring a democratically elected government, prepare the ground for a vital referendum on South Sudan independence and begin healing the wounds of the Darfur conflict. But major opposition parties boycotted it, claiming it was unfair.

In addition to the president, the country was electing a national parliament, local governors and parliaments and the president of the semiautonomous government of South Sudan.

The elections, which run through Tuesday, are supposed to be an essential step in a 2005 peace plan that ended two decades of civil war between the mostly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south. About 2 million people died in the conflict.

Al-Bashir is expected to win easily after two major parties, including the southerners, decided to pull out fully or partially.

The opposition accused the National Election Commission of bias in favor of the government. They also accused the ruling party of using state resources in the campaign and said the number of polling stations nationwide was cut in half from 20,000, making it harder for those in remote villages to vote.

In the capital, Khartoum, early turnout was light. Trucks loaded with uniformed security forces were deployed around the capital, and police issued stern warnings that no disturbances will be tolerated.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, whose team of monitors was the largest among the more than 800 international observers, said he expected a peaceful election.

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